Nutley High School Physical Education
Badminton: PE IV
Miss Toritto
The Court & Equipment
The Absolute Basics

The aim of badminton is to hit the shuttle with your racket so that it passes over the net and lands
inside your opponent’s half of the court. Whenever you do this, you have won a rally; win enough
rallies, and you win the match.

Your opponent has the same goal. He will try to reach the shuttle and send it back into your half of
the court. You can also win rallies from your opponent’s mistakes: if he hits the shuttle into or
under the net, or out of court, then you win the rally.

If you think your opponent’s shot is going to land out, then you should let it fall to the floor. If you
hit the shuttle instead, then the rally continues.

Once the shuttle touches the ground, the rally is over. In this respect, badminton is not like tennis
or squash, where the ball can bounce.

You must hit the shuttle once only before it goes over the net (even in doubles). In this respect,
badminton is not like volleyball, where multiple players can touch the ball before sending it back
over the net.
Badminton is Played Indoors

Some of you may be familiar with playing badminton on a beach, or in the garden. This is
fine when you’re playing it as a casual game, but it doesn’t work when you start to get
competitive.

The shuttle is blown off course by even the slightest breath of wind. That’s why competitive
badminton is always played indoors.
Setting Up a Badmitton Court

Badminton has its own nets and posts; the net is much lower than for volleyball.
If you need to set up the court yourself, then check three things:
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The net covers the whole width of the court.
The net is pulled tight, not slack.
The net is in the middle, so that both court halves are the same size.
Often it can be hard to see the badminton court lines, because lines for other sports are also
painted on the floor. The badminton court lines should all be in one colour, so try to focus on
that.
Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles

You can have either two or four players on a badminton court: one player on each side, or a
team of two players on each side. One-against-one is called singles; two-against-two is called
doubles.

In doubles, either player can hit the shuttle; you do not have to take it in turns. The only
exceptions are the first two shots of the rally; I’ll explain this when we discuss serving.

In total, there are five types of badminton:
 Men’s singles
 Women’s singles
 Men’s doubles
 Women’s doubles
 Mixed doubles (each team is a man and a woman)

These are the only types of badminton played in serious tournaments. In casual play, however,
women sometimes play against men (e.g. two women against two men).
Serving

Serving is how you start the rally: someone has to hit the shuttle first! To prevent the server
gaining an overwhelming advantage, there are special restrictions placed on serving that don’t
apply during the rest of the rally.

The receiver is the person who hits the second shot in the rally. In doubles, the receiver’s
partner is not allowed to hit this shot.
How to Serve

In badminton, the serve must be hit in an upwards direction, with an underarm hitting action.
You are not allowed to play a tennis style serve.

The main rule here is that when you hit the shuttle, it must be below your waist. To be exact,
the rules define this to be a height level with the lowest part of your ribcage. In other words,
you can serve from a bit higher than the top of your shorts, but not much.
Service Courts

The service courts are smaller box shapes inside the court. We’ll look at what they are used
for in a moment, but first let’s get the right boxes.

Notice that the badminton court has a line down the middle, extending from the back to near
the net; this is the centre line. At the front of the court, the centre line is met by another line;
this is the front service line. These two lines form a T shape where they meet.

A singles service court is a box made from four lines:
 The centre line
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A singles side line (inside side line)
The front service line
The back line (the outside one, all the way at the back)

On your side of the net, you have two service courts: your right service court, and your left
service court. The same is true for your opponent.

The doubles service courts are slightly different. They are wider, because they use the outside
side line (remember: the doubles court is wider); and they are shorter, because they use the
inside back line.

That’s what the inside back line is for: doubles service, and nothing else. It’s probably the
most confusing line on a badminton court, because that’s all it does!

So just to be clear, a doubles service court is made from these four lines:
 The centre line
 A doubles side line (outside side line)
 The front service line
 The inside back line (not the very back line, but the next one in)
How service courts are used

Service courts are used for three things:
 The server must stand inside a service court.
 The receiver must stand inside the diagonally opposite service court.
 The serve must travel into the diagonally opposite service court.

For example, suppose the server is standing in his left service court. The receiver will be
standing in his left service court, which is also where the serve has to go.
If the serve is going to land outside the service court, then the receiver should let it fall to the
floor. If the receiver hits the serve, then the rally continues even if the serve had been going
out.
The server and receiver must stay inside their service boxes until the server contacts the
shuttle with his racket. After that, they can leave the boxes immediately and move anywhere
on court.
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Deciding who gets to serve first

In a major tournament, a coin toss is used to decide which side will serve first.

In more casual club or league games, you usually just throw the shuttle up in the air, let it
land, and see which side it points towards: that side serves first.
Points, games, and matches

Every time you win a rally, you get a point. Starting from zero, the first person to reach 21
points wins the game. In club badminton, this is usually where you stop and choose players
for the next game.

In standard league or tournament play, however, what really matters is the match. A match is
the best of three games: you win the match by winning two games. So a match could last
either two or three games.

Whenever you win a rally, you also get the next serve. So if your opponent was serving in the
last rally, the serve passes to you; if you were serving, you keep on serving.
To win, you need a two-point lead

You have to win the game by at least two points. If the score reaches 20–20, then 21 points
are no longer enough to win the game. You need to win two clear points: two points in a row,
one after the other.

For example, 22–20 would be a winning score, as would 25–23. But 21–20 would not be
enough, and neither would 24–23.

If you reach 30–29, however, you’ve won the game. 30 points is the upper limit. This rule is
intended to prevent games dragging on too long, especially at the top level of play, where
excessively long games put athletes at risk of injury.
Always say the server’s score first

It’s a good habit to say the score to your opponent before starting each rally. It’s surprisingly
easy to lose track of the score, and saying it between rallies helps prevent disputes.

When you’re saying the score, always say the server’s score first. So if you are serving and
have 10 points to your opponent’s 15 points, then the score is 10–15 (not 15–10).
Which side to serve from?

Remember that you have two service courts: one on the right, and one on the left.

When the server’s score is an even number, he serves from the right service court. When his
score is an odd number, he serves from the left service court. For this reason, the right service
court is also known as the even service court, and the left service court is known as the odd
service court.

Hence, if you keep winning rallies, you’ll keep serving from a different side each time: right,
left, right, left, right, and so on.

Since zero is an even number, the game always starts with someone serving on the right
(even) service court.
What about the receiver?

The receiver’s position is determined not by his own score, but by the server’s score. The
receiver always stands in the service box diagonally opposite from the server. In other words,
both players will be in the even service courts, or both will be in the odd service courts. You
can never have one of each (one odd, one even).
Scoring in doubles

The actual scoring in doubles is simple: instead of each person winning points, each pair wins
points. The part that often confuses people is this: how do you decide who serves, who
receives, and which side they should be on?

At the start of the game, when the score is 0–0, the serving pair choose who serves for the first
rally, and the receiving pair choose who receives.

The even/odd rule still holds. So if the server’s score is odd, he will serve from the left court
(if even, from the right). Just as for singles, the receiver will stand in the diagonally opposite
service court.

Whenever the serving side wins a rally, the same person serves again (but from the other
service court). The serve does not alternate between the partners: it stays with one person,
until the opponents win a rally and get the serve.
Everyone has a service court

To make sense of doubles scoring, you must understand two crucial ideas:
 Every player has a service court, at all times.
 When your partner has one service court, you have the other one.

Let’s take an example: you are getting ready to serve from your left service court. So your
service court is obvious: it’s the box you have to stand inside.

Your partner is not serving or receiving, so he doesn’t have to stay within one of the service
boxes: he can stand anywhere on your court. Nevertheless, we say that your partner has the
right service court.

Bizarrely, most people say that your partner is in the right service court. This makes no sense
at all, because your partner probably has one foot in each service court!

The same idea applies to the receiving side. In this example, the receiver has the left service
court, and his partner has the right service court. Until you serve, the receiver must stay within
his service court, but the receiver’s partner can stand wherever he wants.
It doesn’t matter where you go during the rally

Suppose you serve from the right service court. By the end of the rally, you could easily be
standing inside the left service box with your partner standing inside the right box. This has
no effect on your service courts for the next rally.

In other words, the service courts are set at the start of the rally. Although you move around
during the rally, the service courts don’t change. At the end of the rally, you have to
remember what your service courts were:
 Who was serving?
 Who was receiving?
 From which side?
Once you remember this, you work out the positions for the next rally.
When you serve and win the rally

Suppose you serve, and then your side wins the rally. For the next rally, you will serve again,
but from the other side. In other words:

When the serving side wins a rally, the server and his partner swap service courts.

Remember that you and your partner must always have different service courts. That’s why
the server’s partner also changes service court here. This change has no effect on the server’s
partner — he can still stand wherever he wants — but he needs to remember his service
court for future rallies.

The receivers never change their service courts. The only way to change service courts is
to win a point when your side is serving.
When the receivers win a rally

When the receiving side wins a rally, the serve passes to them. Their service courts do not
change from the previous rally.

If their new score is odd, then whoever has the left service court will serve; if the score is
even, then whoever has the right service court will serve.
Consequences of this system

If you think it through carefully, you can figure out two interesting consequences of this
system:
 You never serve to the same person in two consecutive rallies.
 When you win back the serve, the new server is whoever wasn’t serving last time.
Faults

The whole shuttle shall be below the server’s waist at the instant of being hit by the server’s
racket.

The shaft of the server’s racket at the instant of hitting the shuttle shall be pointing in a
downward direction.

A serve that hits the line is in.

You lose the rally if you hit the shuttle into the ceiling or walls. You also lose the rally if the
shuttle touches you or your clothing.
Terms

Overhead Clear - The shuttlecock soars in a high arc over the opponent’s head and falls into
the court behind him/her.
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Drop - The shuttlecock just clears the net and falls gently.

Drive - It is a hard stroke hit on a straight line.
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Smash - It is a hard stroke hit sharply downward.
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Short Serve - a serve that lands in front of the short service line.
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Short Service line - The line 6ft. away from the net that the shuttlecock must land beyond to
be playable on a serve.
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Shuttlecock - or birdie is hit back and forth in the game.
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Forehand - It is a stroke made with the palm of the hand turned forward.
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Backhand - It is a stroke made with the back of the hand turned outward.
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Rally - The exchange of the shuttle from the time it is in play until dead.